Pastor's Ponderings: Monday & Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 19:1-12 (July 6 & 7, 2026)

July 6, 2026:  Monday Bible Study on Acts 19:13-20

Good afternoon, Bible Study Folks.

Yes, it’s afternoon. On Saturday, while working on my computer I picked up a tag along that kept putting screens up and prevented me from checking my security and told me I needed to open the same kind and pay again for it. So, I was at the Geek Squad this morning, and it took them about 5 minutes to get rid of all that garbage and get the computer working again. The best thing was that there was no charge for the service. That is a great marketing strategy.

Since I am late with this bible study today, I am going to make it a bit brief. In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles 19:13-20, we encounter what was a part of the social culture of the people of Ephesus. This city was loaded with superstition, creating a place for those who claimed to be able to use their own power to cure people of illnesses and possessions. In Ephesus, such superstition was common among the people, and that left a wide-open field for magicians and "spiritualists" to treat all kinds of physical and mental issues. Since Christianity was a new reality in the community, those very same people attempted to use the name of Jesus to profit from it. Obviously, Paul had success in treating people and shedding them of "evil spirits". However, when those other people attempted to use the name of Jesus as a way of treating possessions, the "spirits" which had occupied the mental and physical health of people, revealed that they did not recognize the false presenters of Christ's power for healing, and instead attacked them, driving them away. I should say that a number of the people who misused the name of Christ for those healings were, in fact, from the Jewish community in Ephesus. In the reading they are called itinerant, which might indicate that they were traveling opportunists. It was through their lack of belief in Christ that they failed to have power over those "evil spirits" that caused so much havoc in the people for physical and mental health problems. I cannot explain how this passage defines, nor even in modern terms define what the reality of the possessions was all about, yet we see Christ Himself confronting the evil spirits of the Gerasene Demoniac and driving them into a heard of pigs who then drowned themselves in Galilee. Certainly, there are other symbols at work here about Christ's powers over all illness, no matter its cause, and even his authority to destroy what was a major food source for the Roman Army. Yet in the case of Paul in Ephesus, we discover that the magicians and sorcerers repented of their trade, breaking with it completely. They burned their spell books and charms, to never pick them up again, and became believers in Christ. In the case of the Gerasene Demoniac, healed and claiming trust in Christ, the people who saw the "crazy" formerly naked man from the cemetery, asked Jesus to leave and not return. Though you and I may find it difficult to fully understand how such health issues and their causes were understood 2000 years ago, what we do need to take from this passage is that those who broke away from their sin so completely, coming to believe in Christ, gave up their lifestyle completely. I am confident that you and I both know how to confess our sins, claim faith in Christ, and then continue our struggle to accepted that Holy Forgiveness, to turn away from our sin, setting our lives on a new path of faithfulness and living, and setting that old sin apart from us completely. Hence, you and I need to continue our confessions regularly, daily, if not more. I want to share with you that last night I prayed that the fix for my computer would not be complicated, and that there had not been any breaking into important content like passwords and accounts. I remembered to say thank you to God for the ease with which the problem was corrected. I know it may seem like a little thing, but after being hacked two and a half months ago, in our bank account and credit cards, it was truly a stressful wait for me to find out that everything was going to be OK. Just a reminder for all of us that there is nothing about which we should not pray in our lives, and that our faith should be the foundation of the life which we live surrounded by our Savior and His Spirit.

I will be back with you tomorrow as we continue in our study of Paul's time in Ephesus.

With Christ's love, Pastor Kim

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July 7, 2026:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 19:21-22

Good morning on this sweltering hot day in Tucson. I hope that you will be mindful of self-care when you are out and about today and be sure to carry plenty of water with you as you spend time in the outdoor heat. I think that both the Praseks and the Backers have been experiencing some pretty rough weather in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We pray that both couples are doing OK with the tough weather in their areas of the country. Please hold them in your prayers. Please also pray for Camille as she awaits the results of a biopsy. Please pray too for Joyce and Larry as they deal with the issues of identity and property theft that have turned their lives upside down. Pray for peace in our world.

This morning, we have a short passage from Acts, but it really helps us understand the mindset of Paul and other leaders in their outreach to Asia Minor communities. In the areas in which they have been missionaries, the new believers are almost all gentiles. Usually, the Jews in that area of the world are completely against Paul's message and seek to undermine and destroy his message about Jesus being the completion of God's Old Testament promises for his people. Luke doesn't give us a great deal of information in these few verses, but we need to know that this is the time for Paul when he sets out to the gentile Christians to take an offering that will go to Jerusalem and Peter's mission to the Jews in that city. At that time, the mission of Peter's and the disciples who have remained there to work is floundering financially and really struggling because of it. So, Paul sends Timothy and Erasmus out into Macedonia to continue the mission work, and I suspect to begin taking up that offering. At this point Paul chooses to stay on in Asia Minor, extending his appeal for that offering. You and I are more than familiar with the time it takes to gather an offering like that. When our congregation has prepared to purchase Global Barnyard animals at Christmas or Easter, it takes us weeks to gather the money to make those outreach purchases. Or when we do an ingathering of money to provide a gift to the community food bank, the same thing is necessary. Paul's hope was not to bring a small offering from the new churches, but to bring a transformative offering, which helped Jerusalem Christians and gentile Christians from Greece and Asia Minor to understand their responsibility to work together in unity for Christ's message to continue in all the places where it had started to get rooted. You and I know how easy it is to get into that mode of thinking only about ourselves and our own needs. That is why such gifts of animals and money are so important, both for those who receive them, and for those who offer them. Paul stayed on to make certain that the sense of unity which was so crucial would grow and blossom into a Church that had the will and the power to bring Christ to the whole world. Our congregation may not be large, and the summer heat means that many will choose to not come to worship or to continue their giving because they are not there, but we have come together time and again, over many years, to show that, in Christ, we know that we are called to bring God's care to all of God's people, and to His whole creation too! Even when we may feel isolated, we are part of Christ's millions of believers and are never alone as we work to proclaim God's love for all people, because ALL of us are His treasure in creation.

Be safe in this heat, and may our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, bless your day.

In Christ's Love, Pastor Kim

References for the offering for Jerusalem: 1 Corinthians 16:1 and following, 2 Corinthians 9:1 and following, Romans 15:25-26